I did some shooting under very low light with a Z1 and then the same setup with the XH A1. I found the XH A1 to be about 1/2 stop better under the same conditions. However, if I went to a +6db gain with the Canon, I could go to a +9db with the Sony and it looked as good. In other words, the Sony is a little cleaner at a higher gain than the Canon. But in real world use, they're practically the same under low light conditions, with the Canon having just a slight edge but not enough to write home about.